Synergetic anaerobic digestion of food waste for enhanced production of biogas and value-added products: strategies, challenges, and techno-economic analysis.

The generation of food waste (FW) is increasing at an alarming rate, contributing to a total of 32% of all the waste produced globally. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an effective method for dealing with organic wastes of various compositions, like FW. Waste valorization into value-added products has increased due to the conversion of FW into biogas using AD technology. A variety of pathways are adopted by microbes to avoid unfavorable conditions in AD, including competition between sulfate-reducing bacteria and methane (CH4)-forming bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria decompose organic matter to produce biogas, a digester gas. The composition depends on the type of raw material and the method by which the digestion process is conducted. Studies have shown that the biogas produced by AD contains 65-75% CH4 and 35-45% carbon dioxide (CO2). Methanothrix soehngenii and Methanosaeta concilii are examples of species that convert acetate to CH4 and CO2. Methanobacterium bryantii, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum, and Methanobrevibacter arboriphilus are examples of species that produce CH4 from hydrogen and CO2. Methanobacterium formicicum, Methanobrevibacter smithii, and Methanococcus voltae are examples of species that consume formate, hydrogen, and CO2 and produce CH4. The popularity of AD has increased for the development of biorefinery because it is seen as a more environmentally acceptable alternative in comparison to physico-chemical techniques for resource and energy recovery. The review examines the possibility of using accessible FW to produce important value-added products such as organic acids (acetate/butyrate), biopolymers, and other essential value-added products.

HighlightsPopulation growth globally increases the generation of FW.FW generation, recycling, and reuse have been discussed.Biogas and bio-fertilizers can be recovered from FW through AD.

Health hazards of hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) and its microbial reduction.

Industrial effluents/wastewater are the main sources of hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) pollutants in the environment. Cr (VI) pollution has become one of the world's most serious environmental concerns due to its long persistence in the environment and highly deadly nature in living organisms. To its widespread use in industries Cr (VI) is highly toxic and one of the most common environmental contaminants. Cr (VI) is frequently non-biodegradable in nature, which means it stays in the environment for a long time, pollutes the soil and water, and poses substantial health risks to humans and wildlife. In living things, the hexavalent form of Cr is carcinogenic, genotoxic, and mutagenic. Physico-chemical techniques currently used for Cr (VI) removal are not environmentally friendly and use a large number of chemicals. Microbes have many natural or acquired mechanisms to combat chromium toxicity, such as biosorption, reduction, subsequent efflux, or bioaccumulation. This review focuses on microbial responses to chromium toxicity and the potential for their use in environmental remediation. Moreover, the research problem and prospects for the future are discussed in order to fill these gaps and overcome the problem associated with bacterial bioremediation's real-time applicability.

A critical review on microbes-based treatment strategies for mitigation of toxic pollutants.

Contamination of the environment through toxic pollutants poses a key risk to the environment due to irreversible environmental damage(s). Industrialization and urbanization produced harmful elements such as petrochemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, and herbicides that are intentionally or unintentionally released into the water system, threatening biodiversity, the health of animals, and humans. Heavy metals (HMs) in water, for example, can exist in a variety of forms that are inclined by climate features like the presence of various types of organic matter, pH, water system hardness, transformation, and bioavailability. Biological treatment is an important tool for removing toxic contaminants from the ecosystem, and it has piqued the concern of investigators over the centuries. In situ bioremediation such as biosparging, bioventing, biostimulation, bioaugmentation, and phytoremediation and ex-situ bioremediation includes composting, land farming, biopiles, and bioreactors. In the last few years, scientific understanding of microbial relations with particular chemicals has aided in the protection of the environment. Despite intensive studies being carried out on the mitigation of toxic pollutants, there have been limited efforts performed to discuss the solutions to tackle the limitations and approaches for the remediation of heavy metals holistically. This paper summarizes the risk assessment of HMs on aquatic creatures, the environment, humans, and animals. The content of this paper highlights the principles and limitations of microbial remediation to address the technological challenges. The coming prospect and tasks of evaluating the impact of different treatment skills for pollutant remediation have been reviewed in detail. Moreover, genetically engineered microbes have emerged as powerful bioremediation capabilities with significant potential for expelling toxic elements. With appropriate examples, current challenging issues and boundaries related to the deployment of genetically engineered microbes as bioremediation on polluted soils are emphasized.

Integrating gravity settler with an algal membrane photobioreactor for in situ biomass concentration and harvesting.

Gravity settler was integrated into an algal membrane photobioreactor (MPBR) for in situ biomass concentration and harvesting of Graesiella emersonii. By continuous circulation of suspended biomass between MPBR and settler, biomass was sedimented in the settler and harvested. MPBR-Settler operations at different recirculation rates (0.15-2.4 L/d) and settler volumes (250-1000 mL) affected both suspended (0.4-3.4 g/L) and settled (16.1-31.1 g/L) biomass concentrations. Maximum biomass productivity of 0.26 ± 0.06 g/L/d was achieved in the 1000 mL settler operating at 0.6 L/d recirculation rate, which also yielded 9-131 times concentrated biomass (31.1 g/L) compared to the baseline MPBR (0.2-3.4 g/L). This novel design also facilitated MPBR operation at low solids retention times (6-8 d) without incurring large outflow of unfiltered effluent, while alleviating light limitation via biomass dilution. These results demonstrated that the MPBR-Settler system can provide an excellent way to mitigate light limitation, enhance biomass productivity, and simplify biomass harvesting.

Wastewater treatment and microbial community dynamics in a sequencing batch reactor operating under photosynthetic aeration.

A sequencing batch bioreactor (SBR) treating municipal wastewater was photosynthetically aerated using microalgae cultivated in a photobioreactor (PBR). Symbiotic interactions and CO2/O2 exchange were established between activated sludge in the SBR and microalgae in the PBR through hydrophobic hollow fiber membranes. Photosynthetic aeration enhanced COD removal in the SBR from 52.2% (without external aeration) to 90.3%, whereas N-NH4+ and P-PO43- removal increased by 63.5% and 90.4%, respectively. The SBR performance under photosynthetic aeration was comparable to that under mechanical aeration. However, no nitrification was observed in the SBR, indicating oxygen limitation and poor growth condition for nitrifiers. In the PBR, there was a rapid increase in biomass concentration and it stabilized at 3.0 g/L after 22 days of operation. High nitrogen demand in the PBR indicated the steady flow of inorganic carbon from the SBR through the membranes. Prolonged oxygen limitation and massive sludge attachment on the membranes resulted in low suspended sludge concentration in the SBR. Microbial community analysis indicated gradual enrichment of facultative and strictly anaerobic microorganisms in the SBR. These results highlight the potential of microalgae in lowering the cost of wastewater aeration and underline the challenges in sustaining symbiotic gas exchange during long-term.